Welcome

The Appalachian Community Fund (ACF) is a publicly supported, non-profit grantmaking organization that provides resources and support to grassroots organizations working to overcome the underlying causes of poverty and injustice in Central Appalachia (East Tennessee, Eastern Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and West Virginia). We pool resources from a range of sources including individuals, businesses, and foundations to support community-led efforts and movement for social change, to support the training and leadership development necessary to strengthen the work in our region, and to cultivate the conditions for lasting, long-term change to be possible.

ACF awards grants to community-based organizations working for social, economic, racial and environmental justice. We support communities with little or no access to other financial resources and grassroots groups which are often too small, too new, or working on issues that are too controversial for traditional funding sources. ACF also funds long-term strategic efforts to address the long-term problems of Central Appalachia.

Since 1987, ACF has funded a variety of community-led efforts and approaches to social change including:

Accessible health care and child care

Youth leadership development

Educational equality

Protection and preservation of civil liberties for all people

Rights and benefits for disabled miners and their families

Racial healing and establishing policies against hate crimes and homophobia